NY Could Face Mail-Ordered Abortion Pill Ban With Supreme Court Ruling

UPDATE: The Supreme Court extended to Friday an emergency administrative stay on the case detailed below.

NEW YORK CITY — The Supreme Court could temporarily ban Wednesday a New York pharmaceutical company from mailing out the nation's most common abortion drug.

The justices are expected to rule on a Texas court's stay on mail-ordered Mifepristone, an abortion pill produced by Danco in New York, facing a challenge of its Food and Drug Administration approval in a fast-paced federal lawsuit.

Should the Supreme Court approve the Alliance Defending Freedom's requested ban, women across the nation could lose mail access to a pill that has helped end approximately 5 million pregnancies since 2000.

The complicated lawsuit remains ongoing as opponents face rigorous pushback, especially in New York where key lawmakers are taking action to protect abortion rights upheld by state legislation.

The Health Department has been ordered to buy 150,000 doses, or about a five-year supply, of Mifepristone. The New York-based company has filed its own request that the court put the decision on hold, and New York Attorney General Letitia James has signaled she'll join the fight.

“Let me be clear: abortion continues to be legal in New York and New York will remain a safe haven for anyone seeking abortion care," James said last week.

"New York will continue to do everything within its power to protect reproductive rights, because it should always be your body, and your choice.”

This challenge arrives about a year after the Supreme Court reversed Roe v. Wade, allowing Texas and about 20 other states to either ban or commence an action to ban abortion.

The legal challenge, filed in November, reached the Supreme Court earlier this month when a Texas federal judge ruled the FDA revoke its approval.

That ruling was modified less than a week later by a federal appeals court to simply limit mifepristone distribution.

Under those limits, the generic drug — which makes up 66 percent of the U.S. supply — could not be mailed, would-be recipients would first need complete three in-person doctor visits and could only request it through the first seven weeks of pregnancy.

The ordered bans have since been challenged by a Washington federal judge and the District of Columbia.

The Supreme Court to put the Texas ruling on temporary hold until Wednesday when justices said they will issue their decision.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.